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About Us

For 35 years, AMWA has supported the professional development of medical writers from throughout Australasia.

The Australasian Medical Writers Association Inc was established in 1982 and has approximately 300 members from around Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

Our members include writers and editors who specialise in health and medical articles for the mainstream press, electronic media and publications for health professionals.

We also have writers and public relations practitioners who work for hospitals, government departments, health promotion organisations, pharmaceutical companies and a range of other groups with an interest in health and medicine.

Many of our members are freelancers with a diverse range of clients. Our association also attracts many doctors, nurses and other health professionals who are interested in expanding their career into writing and editing as well as journalists who wish to specialise in health and medicine.

2017 Executive Committee

President

Michelle joined AMWA’s Executive Committee in 2009 and was elected President in 2015. Outside of AMWA, Michelle runs Health Writer Hub, an online education platform offering health writing courses, tools, training, and resources.

Michelle also works as a freelance health writer, serving clients in government and the health sector (hospitals, NFPs, medical practices, and healthcare businesses). Her main areas of expertise include patient education and website copywriting.

A regular contributor to Medical Writing, the European Medical Writers Association Journal, Michelle often teaches health communication workshops. She is passionate about creating better health outcomes and changing lives through effective health writing. Michelle lives in Sydney’s northern beaches with her young family.

Vice-President

Dr Sarah McKay was a postdoc neuroscientist before hanging up her lab coat to taking up a position as a medical writer in a Med Ed agency (and quickly realised that she’d finally found the dream career).

For the past eight years, Sarah has run a freelance science/medical writing business.

She also blogs about neuroscience at Your Brain Health, speaks, runs workshops, and teaches online courses in brain health and neuroscience.

Treasurer

Andrea Cowley PhD is a medical writer with NPS MedicineWise that made the transition out of medical research just over a year ago. Before becoming a medical writer Andrea spent 7 years researching stem cells in the brain and trying to harness their power to restore brain function in animal models of neurodegenerative disorders.

Realising that she preferred communicating the research rather than sitting at the bench she left her career to start up a new one, and is loving it! When she isn’t working at NPS MedicineWise Andrea is the creator and blogger behind Naughty and Nice Kids and Food.

Secretary

Dr James Graham is a freelance medical writer with a PhD in neuroscience. After 5 years of being a post-doctoral research scientist, James left the UK in 2014 and set up his own freelance medical writing business, Craftext, on the Gold Coast.

James writes for a diverse stable of clients and has quickly accrued experience across a number of different medical and scientific topics as well as writing in a broad range of styles and formats.

Membership Secretary

Dr Ruth Hadfield, BSc, DPhil (Oxon), GCBiostat, is a freelance medical writer and research consultant. Ruth has an academic research background and extensive experience in manuscript writing and systematic reviews.

She is based in Sydney where she has run her successful freelance consultancy since 2012.

AHMEN Officer

Fiona Mackinnon PhD has been the deputy editor of Australian Prescriber for almost 10 years.

She has an academic background in microbiology and spent many years researching a vaccine for group B meningococcal disease. Before transitioning into medical writing and editing, she worked in the US, Oxford and Berlin and is now settled in Canberra.

Last year, Fiona set up a new Chapter of AMWA specifically for health and medical journal editors (AHMEN).

Newsletter Editor

For the last 11 years, she has researched and written about pregnancy, infectious diseases, the immune system, and more. She also loves writing about new scientific discoveries that can help you make the best health decisions. Read her blog full of health tips here.

Public Officer

Shelley Reid

Ordinary Members

With tertiary qualifications in microbiology, pharmacology and food science, Fay has worked primarily in the food and drug industries. Past roles have included microbiologist, laboratory manager, regulatory affairs associate and quality assurance manager. She has met with the Australian and international regulators, including the US Food and Drug Administration, to register new animal and human drugs.

Fay became a freelance writer in 2015. She is a heart-health advocate and blogger, regularly collaborating with the WA Heart Foundation to promote awareness of heart health in younger women. Fay lives in Perth and is completing a Certificate IV in Professional Writing and Editing. Her website is www.healthsciencewriter.com.au

Mark Caswell

Mark is currently the acting editor of Best Practice Journal (BPJ). He has been writing evidence-based educational articles for primary care since 2011. Mark is interested in long-term conditions and the need to acknowledge patient-prescriber relationships when writing for a clinical audience.

Mark is employed by bpacnz, a Dunedin-based, independent organisation promoting healthcare interventions for patients that are appropriate for the New Zealand setting.